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Maybe you’ve always wanted more of yourself.
Or maybe you’ve always thought you could be your own best friend!
Taking Great Source Images
The best way to get good source images is to take your own.
This is best served by using a tripod, a static location, and manual camera configs.
You’ll want to keep the light the same throughout all your images.
Here’s why this is all important.
Automatic shooting, even with a tripod, can give you images too different from each other to use.
Your backdrop should hardly change at all during your photoshoot.
Pay attention to them and be sure not to use a flash, which can make your images unpredictable.
If you have to the focus, be as careful as possible not to move the camera.
Find it by navigating to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.
Pick the images you want to use either by browsing or with “Add Open Files.”
Hit okay to load your selected images into a single Photoshop file.
Then create rough layer masks using the lasso tool and the
in the layers panel.
The brush tool is best for this sort of work, that can require edges with variable softness.
You may have to switch many times while you mask out your edges.
Go into your various layers and mask out all the stuff that’s overlapping your subjects.
Sometimes you’ll need your subjects to overlap each other to look realistic.
Paint them in selectively, switching between white and black in your foreground color.
Hair can also cause problems when it needs to overlap parts of the image behind it.
Pay attention to shadows and shapes, and make a run at give your image a sense of realism.
All things considered, have some fun with it!
Image Credits: Mike Baird’s 1D Mark III byMike Baird, available underCreative Commons.
Special thanks toBrentosaurfor being good enough to be silly on camera.
All photographs taken for this article copyright the author.
